The author artfully combines the best attributes of memoir with the fruits of painstaking historical research to create a gripping, eye-opening, genre-busting read. [This book] is, indeed, not (only) about the fascinating and frequently unexpected life lived by the author but also about those “stories from before memory,” as she so perfectly describes them, that in ways unpredictable yet inevitable did in fact shape, foreshadow, and inspire her own.
Dr. David Weiss, Dean, University College, Univ. of New Mexico.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Cella Anne, in her quest to know herself, discovers that she must first examine the lives of her ancestors. Her story spans slave ownership, land grants, and covered wagons, along with the paradoxical combination of taking advantage of wars against American Indians, while learning from them how to survive in their new home - and the curiosity of her great-uncle receiving an American Indian name the day he was born. Purchasing Cella Anne’s book doesn’t guarantee you will learn to live without imperfections…but everyone will benefit from learning a process that helped her to find her own faults to begin to work for social justice.
Dr. Swelchalot Hardman, AVP, Xwexwílmexwawt, Univ. of the Fraser Valley, British Columbia.
